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Santa Clarita woman pleads not guilty in fatal car crash

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A Santa Clarita woman pleaded not guilty this week to murder and other counts for allegedly driving the wrong way in a stolen pickup truck that crashed into four vehicles on the Foothill (210) Freeway in Claremont, leaving one man dead and several others injured.

Nicole Danielle Thibault, 28, could face up to 57 years to life in state prison if convicted of one count each of murder and grand theft and six counts each of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Thibault is due back in court in Pomona on May 3.

Thibault allegedly stole a parked Ford F-150 in San Bernardino, then drove through red lights and at unsafe speeds before entering the 210 Freeway the afternoon of Jan. 22. She allegedly drove westbound in the eastbound lanes for more than 20 miles before the head-on collision that killed Daniel Castillo, 69, of Fontana.

The 2011 pickup truck was reported to have been taken about 3:25 p.m. that day —with the owner’s 2-year-old son inside the vehicle —near a 7-Eleven store on Highland Avenue and H Street, according to the California Highway Patrol. The youngster was subsequently dropped off at Temple Street and H Street.

About 3:45 that afternoon, CHP dispatchers “received numerous calls of a wrong-way driver traveling westbound on the eastbound lanes of SR-210, within the center median shoulder,” according to the agency.

“Responding CHP units attempted to get into position; however, a pursuit was never initiated. As the Ford F-150 continued traveling (the) wrong way within the center median of SR-210, for unknown reasons it veered into

incoming traffic and collided with four vehicles … east of Mills Avenue in the city of Claremont,” according to a CHP statement. “It is unclear where the Ford F-150 entered the freeway and why the suspect was driving (the) wrong way.”

Thibault —who was among those injured in the crash —was arrested Feb. 1 by the CHP and remains jailed in lieu of $8 million bail, according to jail records.

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